A rare November hurricane is expected to make landfall in the southern US this weekend, according to meteorologists.
Tropical Storm Rafael is forecast to pick up enough strength to qualify as a hurricane as it approaches the Gulf of Mexico. The storm is expected to make landfall in the south-central US.
"Steering breezes will guide the tropical storm on a northwesterly track that takes it near Jamaica and the Cayman Islands early this week and then western Cuba at midweek," Bernie Rayno, AccuWeather's Chief On-Air Meteorologist said on Monday. "In this zone, waters are sufficiently warm, and disruptive breezes and wind shear will be low."
The storm is expected to move north as the week continues, where its winds will gain intensity. Heavy rain and flooding are expected in Jamaica and Cuba as the storm passes through the Caribbean.
"This storm is expected to make landfall Wednesday morning as a Category 1 or possibly a Category 2 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale in western Cuba," according to an AccuWeather meteorologist.
The storm will remain a Category 1 or 2 storm before it begins to weaken on its approach to the US central Gulf coast this weekend. Current projections show the storm hitting moving through the Florida panhandle on the east to central and eastern Louisiana on the west.
Despite it weakening as it approaches the the US, the storm will be strong enough to create rough seas in the Gulf of Mexico, which will trigger beach erosion and dangerous surf conditions.
Meteorologists expect there to be some coastal flooding, and believe the storm will most likely make US landfall along the Louisiana coast.
AccuWeather noted that it's still early, and conditions could push the storm as far west as Mexico and that a stronger hurricane could track further east, toward Alabama and Florida. The weather forecasting service did say the storm would not strengthen into a major hurricane, and would instead be something "less intense."
There is potential for the remnants of the storm to drop enough rain on southern Appalachia to cause flooding, but thankfully most of that rain is not expected to hit the regions affected by Hurricane Helene, where relief efforts are still underway.
